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Need for speed: fastest level 3 grinder
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fgervais
Chaotic Serendipity
#1 - 2013-11-16 04:09:57 UTC
I need to raise my standings to Gallente way up for a project, as well as raise a bunch of alts' standing to a couple corps in the same go.

Unless something changed recently level 3s should be the more efficient way to go, and since I know I have hundreds of missions in front of me I'm looking for the most time efficient ship and fit to do them.

Assume high skills on all ships & guns, plenty of cash and a strict focus on average time to completion.

My default thought was to the Drake, especially the Navy version because I've yet to fly one of those. Nice and shinny, but probably not the fastest. Tornado is up there with the Tengu on my "probably" list. I wouldn't mind going Nighthawk for nostalgia, but I'm pretty sure it's not the fastest.

What's the current consensus on fast level 3 grinders?
Cyrus
Deep Core Mining Inc.
Caldari State
#2 - 2013-11-16 04:47:23 UTC
Drake is most definitely going to be the slowest. As far as missile boats go, the cerberus is the best option. It does as much DPS as the Tengu with more range to the HAMs. Tornado is anouther good option due to having both DPS and selectable damage types, the downside is that you have large turrets vs a lot of small targets so you have to control the transversial and range a lot.

The Dominix is anouther great option because you can micro jump to range and clear out whole areas with sentries. Even using low DPS sentries such as wardens for long range shouldn't slow it down much since the 500 DPS you would still be getting is a lot when it's agains the rats of lvl 3 missions.

Cerb would be my first option.
Dato Koppla
Rattini Tribe
Minmatar Fleet Alliance
#3 - 2013-11-16 04:57:29 UTC
I don't know what the consensus is, but whenever I need to grind L3s I break out my Ishtar and I've also used Drake, Navy Drake, Tengu, Hurricane, Cyclone and Myrmidon in the past for blitzing L3s and none of them even come close to the Ishtar.

I used something like this:

[Ishtar, L3 Blitzer]

Medium Armor Repairer II
Drone Damage Amplifier II
Drone Damage Amplifier II
Drone Damage Amplifier II
Drone Damage Amplifier II

Experimental 10MN Microwarpdrive I
10MN Afterburner II
Omnidirectional Tracking Link II
Omnidirectional Tracking Link II
Omnidirectional Tracking Link II

Small Focused Pulse Laser II, Imperial Navy Multifrequency S
Small Focused Pulse Laser II, Imperial Navy Multifrequency S
Small Focused Pulse Laser II, Imperial Navy Multifrequency S
Small Focused Pulse Laser II, Imperial Navy Multifrequency S

Medium Drone Scope Chip I
Medium Anti-Explosive Pump I


Garde II x5
Hobgoblin II x5
Hammerhead II x5
Ogre II x5
Garde II x2

800 dps @ 85km with Gardes absolutely murders everything before they even get a chance to even think about shooting you which is why I ran only a Repper + 1 rig slot for tank, initially I ran more tank but I found that I never needed it so I ended up dropping most of it for just max dps. Other drones are just there to fill up the dronebay and you'll be using Gardes most of the time except if you're fighting Angels/Sansha/Blood Raiders. Bring some Bouncers/Curators in the cargohold if you need them. The small lasers in the highs are for anti frigate work incase some frigates get under your sentries tracking so you don't have to pull sentries in just to deal with them, I found it very effective and with lasers you don't have to buy much ammo and they have good range. Also you can't really fit any medium turrets in those slots either.
Taoist Dragon
Okata Syndicate
#4 - 2013-11-16 06:12:22 UTC
Navy Harby maybe.

Tracking and damage bonus with the new and improved beam lasers will make it fly through lvl 3's. And tbh laser handle gall space rats just fine considering you'll be doing max dps (all in optimal).

That is the Way, the Tao.

Balance is everything.
Morrigan LeSante
Perkone
Caldari State
#5 - 2013-11-16 09:15:17 UTC
What Dato said, nothing is going to get even close to that.
Bertrand Butler
Cras es Noster
#6 - 2013-11-16 09:54:30 UTC  |  Edited by: Bertrand Butler
The Ishtar truly gets the medal in my books, the only thing I tried that came close when testing is the 250mm rail Astarte. Here is a max gank Serp L3 Variant:

[Astarte, L3 Blitz Astarte]

Federation Navy Magnetic Field Stabilizer
Federation Navy Magnetic Field Stabilizer
Federation Navy Magnetic Field Stabilizer
Magnetic Field Stabilizer II
Armor Thermic Hardener II
Coreli C-Type Small Armor Repairer

Tracking Computer II, Optimal Range Script
Tracking Computer II, Optimal Range Script
Tracking Computer II, Optimal Range Script
10MN Afterburner II

250mm Railgun II, Federation Navy Uranium Charge M
250mm Railgun II, Federation Navy Uranium Charge M
250mm Railgun II, Federation Navy Uranium Charge M
250mm Railgun II, Federation Navy Uranium Charge M
250mm Railgun II, Federation Navy Uranium Charge M
Rapid Light Missile Launcher II, Caldari Navy Inferno Light Missile
Rapid Light Missile Launcher II, Caldari Navy Inferno Light Missile

Medium Hybrid Burst Aerator II
Medium Auxiliary Nano Pump I


Hammerhead II x5

With Uranium ammo you get 843DPS @38.1+43.2km. Adding the RLMs and a flight of hammers gets you to 1041DPS @43km (or 1218DPS @26km) with very good damage application. I personally forgo the missiles for a tractor+salvager combo, and field hobs against frigates bringing my DPS to 942 with Uranium, 1026 with Plutonium and 1111 witth Antimatter.

Ishtar is still a little better.
Schmu Efrafa
Snuggles Inc.
#7 - 2013-11-16 10:02:03 UTC
GilaSmile
if u fit with Navy Omni and a shiny AB it should be quite fast missioning
wondering why no1 mentioned it yet..
Bertrand Butler
Cras es Noster
#8 - 2013-11-16 10:04:18 UTC  |  Edited by: Bertrand Butler
Because right now, the rebalanced Ishtar is considered an upgrade for it...it can certainly do though.Blink
Schmu Efrafa
Snuggles Inc.
#9 - 2013-11-16 10:07:47 UTC
true.. if u have the skills to fly it
Dato Koppla
Rattini Tribe
Minmatar Fleet Alliance
#10 - 2013-11-16 10:12:08 UTC
Schmu Efrafa wrote:
GilaSmile
if u fit with Navy Omni and a shiny AB it should be quite fast missioning
wondering why no1 mentioned it yet..



It's because the Ishtar is very similar in that its a cruiser with 125m3 bandwith, but the Ishtar gets the Sentry optimal + tracking bonus which is absolutely huge for your applied dps. Also a Gila tends to be shield tanked which eats into your space for Omnis. On the shiny AB comment, the fitting I posted has dual prop so you never waste time slowboating to get mission items/to gates, you fire up the MWD and you get 1.6km/s speed, it's also fully t2 with t1 rigs so if you opt for the Navy Omni + Shiny AB on a Gila it'll be more expensive than the Ishtar. And dont forget the drone control range bonus on the Ishtar which means you don't have to sacrifice CPU for a DLA which is a big deal cause CPU is tight on both ships.

Gila is definitely a viable option for blitzing L3s and it's pretty darn good, but the Ishtar is just better. Only reason you'd want a Gila over an Ishtar for L3s is if you don't have HACs trained.
Tauranon
Weeesearch
CAStabouts
#11 - 2013-11-16 10:16:37 UTC
Cyrus wrote:
Drake is most definitely going to be the slowest. As far as missile boats go, the cerberus is the best option. It does as much DPS as the Tengu with more range to the HAMs. Tornado is anouther good option due to having both DPS and selectable damage types, the downside is that you have large turrets vs a lot of small targets so you have to control the transversial and range a lot.

The Dominix is anouther great option because you can micro jump to range and clear out whole areas with sentries. Even using low DPS sentries such as wardens for long range shouldn't slow it down much since the 500 DPS you would still be getting is a lot when it's agains the rats of lvl 3 missions.

Cerb would be my first option.


Stoic faust did an actual test with an ishtar blitzing 3s, I think the key stats he reported was > 50mil isk/hr earned (once he got all the blitzes and rejects down), and more than 45% of the time is spent in warp.

The ishtar warps quicker and locks quicker than a domi.

After rubicon, the best fit will probably be an ishtar with warp speed rigs.
Schmu Efrafa
Snuggles Inc.
#12 - 2013-11-16 12:46:40 UTC
Quote:
Gila is definitely a viable option for blitzing L3s and it's pretty darn good, but the Ishtar is just better.


oh wow.. for some reason i was not aware of these crazy bonuses!

Gallente Cruiser Bonuses:
7.5% bonus to Heavy Drone max velocity and tracking and 10% bonus to Drone hitpoints and damage.
Heavy Assault Cruiser Bonuses:
5 km bonus to Drone operation range per level and 7.5% bonus to Sentry Drone optimal range and tracking speed.

ya.. the gila is not as effective as this - agreed
stoicfaux
#13 - 2013-11-16 13:10:43 UTC  |  Edited by: stoicfaux
Tauranon wrote:
Cyrus wrote:
Drake is most definitely going to be the slowest. As far as missile boats go, the cerberus is the best option. It does as much DPS as the Tengu with more range to the HAMs. Tornado is anouther good option due to having both DPS and selectable damage types, the downside is that you have large turrets vs a lot of small targets so you have to control the transversial and range a lot.

The Dominix is anouther great option because you can micro jump to range and clear out whole areas with sentries. Even using low DPS sentries such as wardens for long range shouldn't slow it down much since the 500 DPS you would still be getting is a lot when it's agains the rats of lvl 3 missions.

Cerb would be my first option.


Stoic faust did an actual test with an ishtar blitzing 3s, I think the key stats he reported was > 50mil isk/hr earned (once he got all the blitzes and rejects down), and more than 45% of the time is spent in warp.

The ishtar warps quicker and locks quicker than a domi.

After rubicon, the best fit will probably be an ishtar with warp speed rigs.

a) stoicfaux Big smile
b) Level 3 Blitzing: 50M+ isk in assets per hour @ 2,000 isk/LP with an Ishtar. Basically, the Ishtar can put out 800 DPS with 93km optimal (or 100km optimal with tech 2 rigs.) Which is insane, IMHO. And you would be surprised about how many missions have NPCs that spawn 100+km away in level 3s.

If you go this route, free tip: the 2nd slavers mission, the one where you warp into an ambush? MWD up until you're 50km away, or you may explode.

edit: And use Heavy Drones for anti-frigate work.

Pon Farr Memorial: once every 7 years, all the carebears in high-sec must PvP or they will be temp-banned.
Goldiiee
Bureau of Astronomical Anomalies
#14 - 2013-11-16 13:12:08 UTC
Everyone seems to be suggesting ship that can do the missions fairly fast, but they are level 3's so really the difference is small, I can complete just about every Level 3 mission in a couple minutes, the main problem is the standing boost per mission is so small.

Consider doing the Gallente Cosmos Arc, a group of about 40 missions that once complete will leave you at +7 or +8 standings (Or at least that's what it got for me) from 0.0. I did the first half in a Minmitar cruiser and the last half in a BC. A cloaky hauler was used in there as well or I might be confusing it with the Minmitar Cosmos arc.

Things that keep me up at night;  Why do we use a voice communication device to send telegraphs? Moore's Law should state, Once you have paid off the last PC upgrade you will need another.
fgervais
Chaotic Serendipity
#15 - 2013-11-18 20:40:44 UTC
Had the chance to try out a couple setups over the week-end, I think I'll settle on an Ishtar for all out combat and a HML Cerb when I just need to go in and drop hurt on a specific target.

Also sporting a retardedly fast inty for courrier missions. Got 2 out of 9 alts up to their required standings, getting a good bump to my own Gallente standings in the process.

Thanks guys!
Zor'katar
Matari Recreation
#16 - 2013-11-18 20:49:13 UTC
I showed up a little late to the party, but I'm currently working standings on L3s with a Sleipnir, and it burns through everything as fast as I can lock it. Travel is definitely the biggest chunk of time, and after the warp acceleration changes tomorrow I may re-evaluate, but to this point it's been great.
Batelle
Federal Navy Academy
#17 - 2013-11-18 20:51:29 UTC
Tier-3 BC would be a top choice, particularly the AC-shield nado, as its very mobile, has a high RoF, and will one shot everything.

Ishtar would work well but using sentry drones to shoot frigates at a rate of 1 every 4s feels a bit tedious. Maybe i need a better hotkey.

I recently did a few level 3's with a tengu on my alt for standings. I used the tengu because my character is specialized for it, but even with javelin hams, not having a range-rigs was a pain. One of the nice things about a t3 is you can refit the covert sub and have no trouble with traveling to a lowsec mission site. This was an issue for me because the agent was literally the only level 3 security agent for that corp.

A cerb or a NH loaded up with range rigs for HAMs or application rigs for heavies definitely seems like an excellent choice.

"**CCP is changing policy, and has asked that we discontinue the bonus credit program after November 7th. So until then, enjoy a super-bonus of 1B Blink Credit for each 60-day GTC you buy!"**

Never forget.
Insidus Virpio
Science and Trade Institute
Caldari State
#18 - 2013-11-22 15:10:35 UTC
Have you tried the COSMOS missions? I got minmatar to 5 within 2 days from doing the COSMOS mission and the Data centers (Handing in the tags). The missions are fairly easy, and they give 4-8% rep each time.
Christine Peeveepeeski
Low Sec Concepts
#19 - 2013-11-22 21:12:09 UTC
Ishtar or the gila :)

Both are amazing at level 3 missions.
Ghost Phius
Tribal Liberation Force
Minmatar Republic
#20 - 2013-11-22 21:33:16 UTC
Drones skills Ishtar, Gila yup.

I like the fleet cane myself, but you need good skills.
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